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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24988180">Flowers, Curry, and Cuddles</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrookeWritesSometimes/pseuds/BrookeWritesSometimes'>BrookeWritesSometimes</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, M/M, angst if you squint, hanahaki, not my best work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:47:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,893</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24988180</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrookeWritesSometimes/pseuds/BrookeWritesSometimes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ren has Hanahaki disease for a certain blue haired artist</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amamiya Ren/Kitagawa Yusuke, Kitagawa Yusuke/Kurusu Akira</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Flowers, Curry, and Cuddles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Okok so I’m sorry if Yusuke and or Ren are ooc, this isn’t my best work if I’m being honest. Also kind of au where hanahaki isn’t as bad of a disease and it’s kind of hard to die from it. I’m about to play Persona 4 and I absolutely love Yosuke x Yu so I might write something for that next 😳😳</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>3 hours.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That’s how long Ren had been standing next to the toilet, vomiting up flower petals.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yusuke had invited him to an art exhibit he had a handful of paintings in, and it was a bit too much for Ren to handle. He was able to hang out with Yusuke normally with only a handful of petals surfacing, but this was different. The way he explained the meaning of each painting with such detail and passion made it almost impossible to get through it all without coating the entire exhibit in his light pink floras.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Did he regret accepting Yusuke’s offer to hang out? Absolutely not. In fact, he wished he could have stayed longer. But his throat was tightening to the point where it would have been dangerous for his health to stay, and there was no way in hell that he was going to let Yusuke see him weak and coughing up flowers.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As he hacked up yet another petal, Ren’s mind began to wander. He’d gotten curious one evening and decided to research what type of flower he was throwing up on that old laptop he’d bought from the second-hand shop and was surprised by the results. Usually whatever flower someone with Hanahaki disease threw up was correlated to the person of their affection’s personality in some way, but Ren’s was far from that. The meaning of the Sayuri flower was hatred or revenge, which is the furthest thing from Yusuke’s personality as Ren could possibly think of. Still, he thought it was adorable that the object tied to his disease was related to the thing that Yusuke treasured most.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey kid, one of your friends is here to see you. Make sure you close up, alright?” Called a familiar voice from not too far away. Ren sighed, spitting a couple more flower petals out of his mouth and flushing the toilet full of them. He’d always taken a strange comfort in looking at and observing the Sayuri petals that had come out of his mouth, especially the ones without blood on them, so he couldn’t help but watch as they swirled down in the toilet bowl. Was Yusuke really rubbing off on him to the point where he could find beauty in his own suffering? Ren hoped so.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He opened up the door, expecting to find Haru sitting in one of the LeBlanc booths and smiling. She was the only one that knew about his Hanahaki disease due to a slip up a few weeks ago and showed up every so often with medicine and specially brewed coffee that was meant to help with a sore throat, god bless her soul. Ren was so used to this in fact that he didn’t hesitate calling out “Hey Haru!” As he opened the bathroom door. He looked up, expecting to find a certain floofy haired sweetheart, but nearly choked on the air as he noticed who was actually there.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was Yusuke.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, were you expecting Haru today? My apologies, I can head home if you’d like,” Yusuke spoke with such genuine guilt in his voice simply for believing that he’d interrupted something that Ren already felt flowers forming in his mouth. He wanted to just run away, but he couldn’t. Not with Yusuke right here next to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“O-Oh don’t worry, you didn’t interrupt anything. I’m glad to see you here, actually.” Ren smiled and tried looking absolutely everywhere except those sweet grey eyes of his, which didn’t really work in the slightest. Sometimes he hated how weak and fluttery he felt simply by being around one of his fellow Phantom Thieves, but he tried to fight that feeling as much as possible.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, that’s good, I’m glad I didn’t disrupt a date or anything. Anyways, I decided to stop by because I was concerned about you. Your abrupt decision to leave due to illness worried me, especially considering it’s Flu season, so I wanted to come and see if you were doing alright. I hope you don’t mind.” Yusuke smiled as well, which caused what felt like a million flower petals to arise in his throat along with everything he just said. Yusuke really cared about him that much? He was willing to check up on him like this even this late at night? God he really was perfect. “Oh yeah,” Yusuke started again, making Ren snap back to reality, “I wanted to get you some medicine just in case you didn’t have any here. It’s not much but I hope it helps.” He set a plastic bag containing a handful of TMC supplies down on the booth table. Ren swallowed nervously; how could he even respond to that? Yusuke, who could barely afford to feed himself, went out of his way to get him medical supplies for an illness he didn’t know anything about. He opened his mouth to offer words of appreciation, but nothing came. He panicked for a moment before an entire Sayuri flower fell out of his mouth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shit.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before he could even come up with a response, Yusuke gasped and started to speak once again. “Ah, you have Hanahaki disease? I should have suspected as much, I could have sworn I’ve seen flower petals on your clothes before. You should probably go to Takemi’s medical clinic and get the removal surgery. I've heard it can be deadly if it goes untreated for long enough,” Yusuke spoke with concern. As Ren desperately tried to form any sort of response, Yusuke kneeled down and began to examine the flower he’d spit up. “I hope you don’t mind me doing this but it is a lovely specimen. A Sayuri I believe? It does represent hatred and revenge though so I hope you haven’t fallen for someone like that,” Yusuke said as he picked up the slightly bloodied flower. Ren coughed out a few more petals in response. He was glad that Yusuke hadn’t managed to figure anything out yet, but was still incredibly worried. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh don’t worry, it.. uh.. represents something else..” he trailed off, realizing that he may or may have just given away his massive crush on Yusuke. Whoops. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah, I see. Is the woman’s name Sayuri perhaps? I guess that’s a pretty literal interpretation but it works.” Just as Ren sighed in relief that Yusuke was still oblivious, his eyes wandered over to the familiar painting on the wall. Immediately after reading the name under the painting, a very light pink tint flushed over Yusuke’s face that would have been unnoticeable to anyone that didn’t have his face permanently burned into their brain. Ren noticed though, and god did it make butterflies arise in his stomach.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Say, Ren, don’t laugh at me if this is untrue but…” he took a long pause before continuing, which worried Ren immensely. This was it. He knew. He was going to get rejected by Yusuke and he’d never speak to him again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Am I perhaps the object of your affections?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There it was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If the dark red blush dotted around his face wasn’t proof enough, Ren threw three entire flowers upon hearing Yusuke speak. He wanted to cry, sink down onto LeBlanc’s floor and die there, but he knew he couldn’t. Yusuke would never talk to him again and that was okay. Right? Right. Swallowing his fear (and a handful of flower petals) Ren managed a shaky and fearful “Yes,” before turning away to hide his face. He couldn’t bear to look at Yusuke anymore as he dug his nails into the counter behind him. He considered offering an apology but any chance of that happening was eliminated when he opened his mouth. Sayuri flowers started pouring out of his mouth, each one with more and more blood on them. The pain was immense, and Ren barely noticed when he sunk to the floor. He’d read about this online; apparently if the person you’re in love with finds out you’re in love with them then the chances of death are significantly increased. It sure as hell felt like it, considering the flowers were now entirely coated in blood.</span>
</p><p> </p><p><span>“Oh god..!” was the first thing Ren heard after sinking to the floor, albeit it felt like a strange dream more than anything due to the numbness spreading it’s way up his body. “I.. you can’t die! Not like this..” Yusuke sounded incredibly pained, and Ren desperately wished he could comfort him. He’d never heard Yusuke lose composure like this before, and it was almost as painful as the aching feeling searing in his throat. “I.. I’m glad that you feel so dearly about me. I- I’ve harbored similar feelings for a while, ever since you helped me realize Sens- no, Madarame’s true nature. You’ve always been so kind to me but I’ve never really known how to express it; I do apologize for making you suffer this long as well,” Yusuke soothed, his voice going from panicked to his normally calm voice quickly. It took Ren a while to actually process what was happening, partially due to the fact that he could barely breathe from the pain and particularly due to the fact that </span><em><span>Yusuke</span></em> <em><span>was in love with him. </span></em><span>Those words didn’t even feel right in his mind, let alone having them actually be true. He opened his mouth to say something, expecting to violently hack up more flower petals, but instead he found a completely clear throat along with the horrible pains from mere seconds ago disappearing. So Yusuke wasn’t lying? This must have all been a weirdly realistic feeling dream. “Oh good, it seems it’s worked. I- … I was scared for a minute there. I really care about you so if something were to happen… Nevermind that, I’m just glad you’re okay,” Yusuke said with a smile, and </span><em><span>god</span></em><span> it felt good for Ren to finally have fluttery feelings in his stomach that didn’t trigger violent coughing several minutes later. He was finally managing to process everything, albeit a bit slowly, and it all felt too good to be true. Yusuke stuck out a hand, making Ren realize that he was still crumpled on LeBlanc’s dirty floor.</span></p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” he said, gripping onto it tightly and nearly stumbling over. “For everything I mean. You’re a great friend, teammate, and uh, boyfriend I guess? I mean we’ve been dating for like 30 seconds but I assume you’re going to be a great boyfriend.. if you even want me calling you that, I mean… fuck…” Ren said, quickly deteriorating from confidant to a blushing awkward mess. Yes, the leader of the Phantom Thieves was stumbling over his words because of a pretty boy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you so much, I could say the same about you. You’re an absolutely excellent leader and friend and I’m incredibly thankful to have met you. And of course you can call me your boyfriend, we’re dating are we not?” Spoke Yusuke in such a calming tone of voice that it felt odd for Ren not to have flowers stirring in his chest. He tried to think of some sort of pickup line or snarky comment to help return to his normal self rather than the blushing and bumbling one he currently was, but couldn’t come up with anything. Not with those adorable grey eyes staring him down at least. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ha.. yeah…” Ren trailed off, barely even paying attention to what he was saying. What he was actually focused on was the warm hand he was grasping onto tightly, which made his already flushed face turn even redder. He still couldn’t fathom a response, so he simply leaned onto Yusuke’s shoulder and smiled. This really was heaven. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I apologize if this is too soon but may I.. kiss you? You look absolutely lovely like this and I would hate to pass up such a great opportunity. Though it may be dangerous if you were to get any redder.” Yusuke hesitantly raised a hand up to Ren’s hair and began to play with it in slow, gentle strokes. It helped Ren feel relaxed and calm down from the high that resulted from the fact that </span>
  <em>
    <span>Yusuke wanted to kiss him. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Too lovestruck to bother with a verbal response, Ren managed a small nod. Yusuke gave a slight smile as he leaned in and placed a light peck on the other’s lips. It was short and overwhelmingly sweet, but Ren wanted more. He wanted so much more that he couldn’t possibly put it all into words, but what he could manage would suffice for now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“.. More,” he whined, raising a hand and lazily ruffling through his new partner’s soft blue hair. In hindsight Ren realized that he messed it up quite a bit and probably should have apologized, but he wasn’t focused on that in the moment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..More? Y-you want me to kiss you again?” Yusuke tried to swallow his surprise, but failed. Now it was his turn to be the flushy bumbling one. Ren didn’t even need to respond; it was obvious how he felt from the needy look in his eyes. Yusuke leaned in once again, this time for a lot longer to satisfy the needy baby leaning on his shoulder. It seemed to do the trick, considering Ren didn’t speak up again afterwards. His little spark of snark dissipated immediately upon feeling Yusuke’s warm lips on his for the second time, so another whiney comeback was out of the question. Instead, he offered a genuine “Thanks,” and gripped onto Yusuke’s hand tighter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re the most welcome,” Yusuke beamed, reveling in the compliment. They stood unmoving in silence for a short while, neither of them knowing what to say or do next. The silence wasn’t awkward in the slightest because neither of them really noticed. They were both lost in their thoughts about everything that had just happened. Fantasizing, wondering what compliments to use next, and considering the possibility that this was all an unusually realistic dream. The silence was abruptly broken however when Yusuke’s stomach growled loudly. “Ha,” he laughed a bit nervously, a very faint tint of pink coating his face once again that only someone like Ren would notice, “I apologize, I got so caught up in getting over here and buying the medicines that I forgot to eat dinner again,” Yusuke looked away, figuring that Ren would see through his lie if he looked him in the eyes. He wasn’t completely lying, Ren’s mysterious illness did make dinner less of a priority, but he didn’t forget in the slightest. He’d gone ‘a bit’ overboard with his spending on the TMC medical supplies and spent his food budget for the next few days. It was all worth it for his smile though.. at least that’s what Yusuke told himself on the way to LeBlanc.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Luckily Ren didn’t seem to suspect anything, or at least wasn’t going to mention it if he did. “Yusuke,” he said with a slight frown. “You need to eat more. This has happened before, you know.” He felt a bit bad for lecturing his new boyfriend, but the idea of Yusuke going hungry for his own sake made him shiver. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I understand. My apologies, I’ll.. uh.. eat as soon as I get back to my dorms,” he gritted his teeth and nervously rubbed his neck. He really was a horrible liar.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh don’t think you can leave me already,” Ren smirked, finally going back to his normal sarcastic and snarky self, “Besides, I know you barely have anything to eat over there. Plus you just blew a few thousand yen on those medical supplies so I doubt you can buy much. Here, let me make you some curry. It’s on me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I... thank you so much. I really appreciate it,” usually Yusuke would attempt to deny the offer, but he was so hungry that he didn’t even bother.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ren smiled, running a final messy stroke through Yusuke’s now practically destroyed hair before moving to the kitchen to start making his curry. He wasn’t the most experienced in making it and slightly regretted offering to make some, but he was determined to make something at the very least edible. It didn’t help that Morgana wasn’t there to scream at him for using the wrong ingredients, either. Eventually, after a lot of praying and experimenting with the ingredients, he came up with something that (hopefully) tasted good and scooped it out into a bowl. Shortly after that he brewed some Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, which he was a lot more experienced in making, and poured it into a cup with a cheesy pickup line on it that he’d found stored away in a cabinet behind the counter. Hopefully that cup would be enough to make up for the curry that may or may not be edible. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh goodness, this looks delicious! Are you sure it’s okay for me to eat all of this? I don’t want overstay my welcome or anyth-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yusuke. Eat. It’s not a problem, I assure you. Though I appreciate your concern.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yusuke began to eat almost immediately after that exchange, a bit too quickly for Ren not to be concerned as to the last time he’d eaten. He pushed that thought aside though and tried to judge his opinion on the food by his facial expression. He couldn’t tell very much but he wasn’t violently throwing up so that was a good sign. Right? Hopefully.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yusuke finished the food a bit too quickly, once again concerning Ren. “That was perfect, I can’t thank you enough! I would pay you back but, uh,” he laughed nervously once again and took another sip of his coffee. “The coffee is fantastic as well, better than Boss’s I believe. And I love the cup as well.” Yusuke smiled, making Ren melt ever so slightly, and stood up. “I apologize, but I must get going. The last train to Kosei leaves in less than twenty minutes and I don’t have any other way to get there. I had a nice time tonight and I’m glad I was able to cure you of your illness. Are you free tomorrow, perhaps? I’d like to spend time with you again as soon as possible,” Yusuke sounded incredibly apologetic and sad, and it sent an unpleasant feeling to Ren’s throat. He had a plan to fix that, though. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“.. Who said you had to go back to your dorms?” He asked in the most sultry voice he could muster, which was pretty damn sultry considering it was Ren. If that wasn’t enough, he followed it up by wrapping his arms around Yusuke tightly and clinging onto him like his life depended on it. The slight pink tint on his cheeks was no longer barely noticeable, it was blood red and covered the majority of his face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A- are you implying that I should sleep here? B-because I wouldn’t mind that in the slightest but wouldn't you get in trouble with Boss for having me stay without asking? I..” now that he was considering it, Yusuke desperately wanted to sleep in Ren’s room. Waking up with him not far away and getting to share tired morning kisses made his heart do somersaults in his chest. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Probably, but it’ll be worth it. I’m not forcing you into a decision but I’ll be so cold and lonely without you here, baby..” he whined, his grip on Yusuke tightening even further. “Red is a great color on you, by the way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But I’m not wearing r- </span>
  <em>
    <span>oh,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Yusuke took a long pause, which Ren thought was to make a decision but was actually him trying to find out the least needy way to phrase his next sentence, and then sighed. “Very well. Thank you for offering to let me stay despite the possibility of getting yelled at by Boss. I really appreciate it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh thank god. I was worried you’d say no and then I’d have to listen to Morgana yell at me to go to sleep again,” Ren laughed, then grabbed Yusuke’s hand to lead him upstairs. Yusuke had been in his room many times before, but for some reason this time felt different. He didn’t have to worry about masking his petals or accidentally revealing his massive crush, or Yusuke missing his train again, or any of the other unfortunate events that always tended to ruin their meetups. It was just him, Yusuke, and a sleeping Morgana in the corner. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your room is so quaint and comfortable feeling, I like it.” Yusuke finger-framed the room because he’s Yusuke and then noticed Morgana curled up on top of an old magazine. “Aww, Mona is so cute when he sleeps!” He cooed as he laid down on the sofa not too far away from him. He had to admit it wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but it was worth it to see Ren in the morning. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yuuusuukeeee…. come to bedddddd…” Ren whined as he laid down in his ‘bed’ if you could even call it that. He wanted Yusuke in his arms and he wanted him now, damnit. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm? I am going to bed. I’m not sure what you mean,” Yusuke responded with genuine confusion, bless his innocent soul. Ren couldn’t help but laugh; he had to know the reason he offered to let him stay the night, right?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yusuke, you’re kidding right? I want to cuddle with you, idiot,” Ren said with the same needy tone that he had earlier. “Now come,” he added with grabby hands. Yusuke’s mouth made an ‘o’ shape upon hearing this, mentally facepalming himself for not realizing it earlier. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I see. That sounds very enjoyable, I apologize for not understanding earlier.” ‘Enjoyable’ was nowhere near enough to describe his actual feelings, but he was too tired and excited to bother coming up with artistic ways to phrase his feelings like he usually did. He stood up quickly, his heart practically pounding in his chest from what he was about to do. He climbed into Ren’s bed awkwardly and nervously slung an arm around his shoulders. There was barely enough room for the two of them so it was the exact opposite of comfortable, but neither of them really noticed that with how close they were to each other. It didn’t take long at all for Ren’s face to be completely buried into Yusuke’s chest, which was not originally what he had in mind but he didn’t mind that in the slightest. His glasses were still on, not wanting to part from Yusuke for the few seconds he would need to take them off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“hhhhhbnnnhbb… goodnight… you’re pretty…” Ren mumbled as he lost consciousness. Yusuke, not realizing that his partner was almost asleep, followed up with a chuckle and a flushed face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pretty? I’ve never heard myself described in such a way, but I’m flattered nonetheless. You’re very pretty as well, I suppose. Though there are probably a million better ways to deceive how beautiful and stunning you are, I’m too tired to think of them at the moment.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But Ren was already asleep. For once, he didn’t visit the Velvet Room or get woken up by Morgana’s neverending meowing. Instead he had sweet, pleasant dreams of Yusuke’s soft lips and sweet face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If he didn’t have the real thing laying right next to him, he’d never want to wake up.</span>
</p><p> </p>
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